Question of the Day

Did illegal voters swing any congressional races?

Sci-fi faith

"I don't really know much about Scientology, but I like the idea of a religion that attracts stars; Christianity teaches us about redemption, Judaism stresses scholarship, but I'm more drawn to any spiritual path that has lured John Travolta, Tom Cruise, and Kirstie Alley… . I've been studying the recent career moves of John and Tom; I love them both as actors, but maybe they can become my soul guides as well… .

"John has finally filmed his longtime pet project, 'Battlefield Earth,' and the movie was savaged by the press and did lousy business… .

"I could never figure out what was going on, but I bet that was intentional: John has a higher message… .

"L. Ron [Hubbard] was the founder of Scientology and wrote the novel on which 'Battlefield Earth' is based; maybe I'm crazy, but I love the idea of taking spiritual nourishment from a [lousy] sci-fi writer."

Libby Gelman-Waxner, writing on "Missionary Positions," in the August issue of Premiere

Gay tolerance

"GLSEN (pronounced 'glisten') is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, a national organization for promoting 'gay rights' in schools including, according to its Web site, elementary schools. It is, of course, supported by contributions from large corporations (Kodak, American Airlines, Dockers Khakis) and taxpayers. It has, of course, the full backing of the public-employee and teacher unions, state legislatures, state governors both Republican and Democratic, the academy, the judiciary, and the press.

"Strangely enough, though, this organization as respectable as the unqualified support of all the estates of the realm can make it, swilling in money both private and public does not care for the content of its 'youth-only workshops' to be made known to parents. When two concerned fathers in Massachusetts covertly taped one of these sessions and sent the tapes to radio talk shows, they brought down on their heads the full fury of the state's liberal establishment. The fathers, Brian Camenker and Scott Whiteman, are now being sued by another (different, but just as lavishly funded) homosexual group and may also face criminal charges. All in the name of 'tolerance,' of course."

from "The Week," in the July 31 issue of National Review

Kids on drugs

"Amid all the finger-pointing to causes prompting the recent wave of schoolyard killings, not nearly enough clamor has been raised about the fact that many of these teen-agers suddenly exploding into mania were on a regimen of antidepressants. Eric Harris, one of the shooters at Columbine, was on Luvox. Kip Kinkel, who killed his parents and two students in Oregon, was on Prozac… .

"Dr. Peter Breggin, author of books on Prozac and Ritalin, has said: 'I have no doubt that Prozac can contribute to violence and suicide. I've seen many cases. In the recent clinical trial, 6 percent of the children became psychotic on Prozac. And manic psychosis can lead to violence.'

"A 15-year-old girl attending a ritzy liberal arts school in the Northeast told us that 80 percent of the kids in her class were on Prozac, Ritalin or Dexedrine. The pretext used by the school authorities is attention deficit disorder … with a diagnosis made on the basis of questions such as: 'Do you find yourself daydreaming or looking out the window?'

"Ritalin is given to about 2 million American schoolchildren. A 1986 article by Richard Scarnati in the International Journal of the Addictions lists more than a hundred adverse reactions to Ritalin, including paranoid delusions, paranoid psychosis … and terror."

Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, on "Ted K., the CIA & LSD," Saturday in Counter Punch at www.counterpunch.org